


Laksha's Gift

by opencontent



Category: Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 07:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2684024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opencontent/pseuds/opencontent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laksha, Vin's mentally unstable mother, kills Vin's baby sister Seph and attempts to kill Vin as well. Reen saves Vin and rushes her to safety, but not before Laksha unwittingly places a hemalurgic spike in Vin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laksha's Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Brightness Random for very helpful feedback on my very first fanfic.

Laksha had mixed feelings about her sewing. On the one hand, something as menial as making a gown for her newborn girl was completely beneath her station. She might be a skaa, but she was also Secret Empress of the Final Empire. The work was demeaning, but mending a shirt now and then kept up appearances and prevented unwanted suspicions. 

On the other hand, keeping her hands busy and her mind focused on the details of the task was the best way to keep the voices at bay. 

Laksha started, dropping her sewing to the floor, her head darting from side to side like a frightened bird. What was that sound? Could it be him? Her mood swung instantly from utter fear to near rapture, almost falling from her awkward perch on the edge of the chair. He had finally come to see Seph! She was almost a month old now, and it was about time he finally took her in his arms and saw that sweet smile. She was even presentable today, washed and wearing her new gown.

It had taken him a month to come, but certain allowances had to be made. While the Lord Ruler was the public face of the Final Empire, Tevidian administered the empire as Lord Prelan. The Lord Ruler was the world’s most powerful allomancer, but Tevidian dominated the politics of the Final Empire. His role as Shadow Emperor of the Final Empire was a dangerous secret, one she must never speak aloud. Neither could she tell another soul that he had named her Shadow Empress. If the other obligators knew of their secret marriage, they would hate him even more. And if the Steel Ministry knew the union had produced not one but two children, they would all be hunted down and killed in an unspeakable manner - Laksha and Tevidian included. 

No, she must never speak of these things to another living soul, and that was just fine by Laksha. She prefered to interact with people as little as possible. Her needles, threads, and fabrics were silent, steady friends, always there for her and never judging her. 

“He’s not coming,” a voice interrupted harshly. Laksha didn’t flinch at this sound. She knew this speaker - it was one of the cursed voices that spoke from within her own mind. 

When she was younger Laksha had actually tried to talk with the cursed voices, answering their questions or asking what they meant. But they either didn’t hear her or chose to ignore her. Of course they can hear you, she chided herself. They’re right there in your mind, after all. And Lord Ruler knows they certainly heard each other. Did they really think they could carry on a conversation in there without her hearing? That was one of the most disturbing things about the cursed voices. They spoke about her as if she wasn’t there.

“No, he isn’t coming,” agreed another of the cursed voices. 

Laksha stepped carefully from her perch on the edge of the chair, kicking aside the bundle of clothes and slinking toward the corner of the room. She curled up on the ashen floor, preparing to weather what was coming.

“He’s not coming because he doesn’t love her. She’s simply his mistress. He’s off getting some other worthless skaa pregnant right now, and lying to her that she’s the Shadow Empress of the Final Empire.”

Laksha began slowly rocking back and forth, whispering to herself that the cursed voices didn’t know - couldn’t know - what they were talking about. Tevidian loved her. That’s why she was still alive. That’s why their children were still alive.

“No, stupid, that’s not it at all. He’s not coming because the Steel Ministry has finally learned of his indiscretion, and he’s being slowly tortured in the dungeons of Kredik Shaw at this very moment. It will be the Inquisitors who finally come, not Tevidian, and Death will accompany them.”

Laksha rocked faster, shaking her head despairingly, mumbling to herself that none of it was true. The voices would fall silent again soon. It would pass. She just had to hang on a few minutes longer. Why had she put down her sewing?

“If only it were that simple,” a third voice corrected. “He’s not coming because the Lord Ruler himself has become suspicious, and has invited Tevidian to lunch this very day in order to read his mind. Tevidian will not be able to hide his secrets from the Lord Ruler. Before the day is Tevidian and Laksha will both be dead, and the children will be sent to the Pits of Hathsin.” 

Laksha couldn’t help herself. She began crying softly, her mumbling affirmations that the cursed voices were wrong dying in her throat. They were right. Oh, Lord Ruler they were right. She would die a horrible death. Her children would become slaves - beaten and starved and worked to death. It would all happen just as they said. Slowly. Painfully. She couldn’t bear it anymore. 

“Please... someone... help me,” she whimpered hopelessly as another bout of shudders overtook her. And then, as she tightened her grip around her knees, she felt the world change. It was subtle, be she felt it. What was that? What just happened?

“Shadow Empress of the Final Empire,” an unfamiliar voice whispered softly, quieter than the others had been. “You cannot allow these evils to befall your children. They are innocent and pure. You must protect them.” Laksha froze immediately, a stark contrast to the violently shaking woman curled up in the corner a moment before. She had never heard this voice. It was not one of the cursed voices that had tormented her relentlessly throughout her youth and into adulthood. Who was speaking to her? That voice was so soft, yet it penetrated her soul. 

“I can’t. Can’t protect them,” she murmured to herself. “Nothing I can do... nowhere to go...” Laksha stopped fighting her emotions and gave in to an uncontrollable fit of tears. 

“Oh child, is there truly nowhere they will be beyond the reach of the evils of this world?” the voice asked earnestly. So sincere, she marveled. She could feel it - the voice honestly desired to help her find an answer to… She cut off mid-thought. The new voice - it could hear her. It was answering her. It wanted to help her. 

God. God was speaking to her. Not the Lord Ruler, not the mere Sliver of Iniinity. This was the Infinite itself, reaching out to her. Laksha was simultaneously filled with abject terror and deep gratitude.

“You must end the children yourself, quickly and mercifully. Send them back to me where evil cannot harm them. They are too pure to suffer the machinations of wicked men. Quick! The Inquisitors will be here any moment!” 

Laksha leapt to her feet, scooping Seph up in one arm, stumbling over her mending. How? What would be the fastest, most painless way to kill her precious baby, forever putting her out of reach of the most vile and twisted forces in the Final Empire? 

“Wait!” a voice call out within her, her own voice, filled with panic. “What are you doing?!?” 

“Your sewing needle,” God suggested. “Place it directly above the young child’s heart and drive it through quickly. Don’t tremble! Keep a steady hand, for the child’s sake.”

“No!” Laksha screamed out in desperation, but her body seemed to be moving against her will. With terror she realized that she was not entirely in control of herself. Was God guiding her actions, giving her the courage needed to do what must be done? The thought gave her strength. She sat down in the chair and laid Seph across her lap, smiling upward at her mother. Then quickly, surehandedly, Laksha drove the needle down through the child’s chest. 

Seph cried out, but did not die.

“Again. And do it quickly. Do not make the child suffer,” God said.

“No, no, NO!” her heart begged, but her hands knew what had to be done. She pulled the needle through the child’s back, and tiny drops of blood began falling to the floor. Over and over she pressed the needle directly through the baby’s heart, pulling it out through its tender back. After several seconds, which felt like hours, Seph stopped crying. She stopped moving. 

Seph was finally safe. No one in the Final Empire could harm her now.

“What is going on?” croacked a sleepy voice, a human voice, a voice that sounded from outside Laksha’s mind. Vin had woken from her nap and stumbled into the room, rubbing sooty eyes against the wan light. With horror Vin saw Laksha as she sat dumbfounded, blood dripping down her clothes and into a puddle on the floor, the perforated corpse of Seph sprawled across her lap. 

“Mom!” shouted Vin, eyes finally opened wide, panic amplifying her small voice. “What have you done to Seph?”

“Stay away from me!” Lashka wanted to shout. But instead, she determinedly called, “Quickly, come here darling!”

Vin moved rapidly across the room on spindly legs. 

“Now, save this one as well,” God encouraged. Laksha lept from the chair, dumping Seph’s body to the floor atop the mending, and landed on top of Vin, pinning her to the floor. Vin felt warm blood oozing from her mother’s clothes onto her cool skin.

“No! I can’t do it! Not again!” Laksha’s heart protested, but her hand moved. Laksha stared down at Vin with an expression that mixed resignation, sorrow, and determination. 

“You would have been Queen of the Final Empire...” Laksha lamented. Vin lay confused, unsure what was happening.

Laksha grasped the needle in her fist and swung it in a high arc toward Vin’s eye. Once through the brain should be faster than the terrible, repeated stabbing Seph had endured. But at the last moment, her resolve evaporated and Laksha turned her hand away from the young girl’s face. At the same moment, Vin jerked her head to the side hoping desperately to avoid the crazed woman’s strike. 

The needle narrowly missed the young girl’s head, but punctured her ear near the lobe and drove deep into the room’s wooden floor. Vin released a primal scream of pain, and Laksha found herself flying through the air. She smashed into the room’s back wall, an angry young man on top of her.

“Vin, run!” Reen yelled furiously. 

“No! She was to be Queen!” Laksha growled maniacally. “Queen of the Final Empire! You cannot give her to the Inquisitors! I must protect her. I can save her!” 

“I can’t move!” Vin howled in frustration through tears of pain. “I’m stuck to the floor!”

Laksha rolled over. “Reen!” she sighed, relaxing as she recognized her son. “Thank goodness you’re here! The voices - the voices again,” she trailed off. “And God,” she exclaimed. “God spoke to me. Seph is safe now, but Vin and I are still in terrible danger!”

Reen pushed hard on Laksha, unapologetically driving her into the floor as he stood. “You’re the greatest danger to this family, mother,” he whispered. “Saved Seph? You’ve murdered her! And you almost killed Vin! I’m leaving, and I’m taking Vin with me. You’ll never see either of us again.”

Laksha watched in stunned disbelief as Reen moved to where Vin lie on the floor. After briefly reviewing the situation, he broke the needle pinning Vin to the ground. A small section, bent awkwardly, protruded from Vin’s lobe like a grotesque earring. He could deal with that later. He stood, taking Vin in his arms, and dashed out the door carrying his willowy sister to safety.

And then Laksha was alone.


End file.
